Levi Blossom Jr. was born into an aristocratic old-money family from Berkshire, Massachusetts.  He was trained in his native state as an attorney, but despite the prjudices we associate with the type, young Levi was restless, and upon completing his education, set out for the American West.  He landed in Milwaukee in the Territory of Wisconsin in 1836.  He practiced his trarde there, was elected City Attorney, and soon amassed a sizable estate.   

It was in this capacity that he became acquainted with Mr. William Miller.  In 1839 Miller had entered a Mortgage for land that he had begun to develop as an ambitious three-story brewery, a residence, grainery, malt house and stables, all nicely situated on the bank of the Milwaukee River.  By 1842 Miller's mortgage had gone into defult, and City Attorney Blossom was in charge of the sherrif's sale.  Blossom ultimately reorganized the brewery, placing himself in the position of controlling partner.

In 1842 the elder Levi Blossom died in New York.  Alonzo, Levi Jr's younger brother joined Levi and William Miller in Milwaukee to help finish and operate the brewery.  They completed the complex and called it the Eagle.  It was likely the largest brewery in Wisconsin.  The Blossom brothers eventually bought Miller out of the business on Decmber 1st, 1847.

Their timing was fortuitous.  Their brewery pree-dated the flood German refugees into the area.  When the Germans began arriving in Milwaukee in 1848, the Eagle Brewery, despite being an ale manufacturer, was there to quench their thirst and provide a little taste of home.  The brewery made the boys rich, and when Alonzo married in 1848 Levi passed passed his controlling partnership to his newlywed younger brother.

Levi and his wife Cornelia Morrison (née Tiffany) had four daughters under the age of six at home. He receded from the day to day operations of the brewery to concentrate on public service and land speculation.  Alonzo started his own family, and residing in the residence on the brewery grounds.  But their idyllic lives would soon come crashing down.

On the night of November 16th, 1852 the Eagle mysteriously caught fire and within two hours had burned to the ground.  While no-one was injured, Alonzo's family lost everything.  Insurance was not enough to cover the losses and the balance was settled in court.  Levi, as creditor, sued his little brother Alonzo, and in the end the Blossoms sold the brewery property to the highest bidder.  Alonzo and his young family left town defeated, broke, and estranged from his older brother.

In 1860 Levi, now aged 46, listed his occupation in the census as "Gentleman" and claimed an estate of $15,000.  He was still city attorney, and he was a land speculator.  He was appointed to the board of a bank.  Through nascent Republican politics he became active in the Temperance movement (of all things) and gave speeches in Milwaukee supporting their cause.  One of his last projects was to bring a branch of the St. Paul railroad to Milwaukee, which he saw through.

Levi Blossom Jr. took ill in the early 1870s and moved to San Francisco ro recuperate.  He died there on October 31st, 1873, at just 60 years of age.  His body was removed to Milwaukee for burial in the family plot.

Alonzo A. Blossom was born to Cynthia and Levi Blossom Sr, a merchant in Lenox, New York.  The Blossom family were old American money.  Their ancestor, Peter Blossom, had emigrated to Massachusetts from Holland in 1629 at age 6, and the family remained within 300 miles of the landing spot in Boston for the next two centuries.

However two of Levi's boys were not content to stay in the luxurious East.  In the 1830s Alonzo's older brother older brother, Levi Jr. moved 700 miles due west to Milwaukee in the Territory of Wisconsin.  At the time, Milwaukee was at the western edge of America.  It was a town so new it had not yet decided on how to spell its name.

Upon his father's death Levi purchased  partially-built brewery through a sheriff's sale.  It was a three-story brick structure fed by a tributary of the Milwaukee River.  It was probably the largest firm of its kind in Milwaukee, and quite possibly the Territory of Wisconsin.  Alonzo joined his brother in Milwaukee to help finish construction and run the new brewery.

They called the new brewery the Eagle, and with the inheritance from their father they had the manufactory up and running in no time.  They had timed it right.  In three years the first large wave of German immigrants would begin to arrive, and the Eagle was there waiting for them. 

The brewery was in Levi's name, and Alonzo, being seven years his junior, was an employee.  It was as profitable as a brewery in Milwaukee, and it made both men wealthy (wealthier) in a short period of time.

In 1848 Alonzo married Frances Elizabeth Williams in New York, another descendant of vintage American stock.  In that same year Alonzo purchased a controling interest in the Eagle from his brother.  He ran the brewery as a sole proprietor for four years before a mysterious fire destroyed it the night of November 16th, 1852.  Although the building was insured, the proceeds were not enough to cover the losses, and the balance was settled in court.  Alonzo was sued by his creditors, the pricipals of which were his brother Levi and his wife Cornelia. Alonzo left town humiliated.

By 1860 Alonzo and Frances had relocated to Dubuque, Iowa where Alonzo was listed as a merchant in the census.  He sold coal, and was a farmer, and although the Blossoms probably had financial help from back east, one can only imagine the stuggles these Yankees had trying to rebuild their lost esteem on the lawless streets of Dubuque.

By 1880 60-year-old Alonzo and his wife had left the frontier and retired to the more civilized society of Chicago, and that is where they remained for the rest of their days.  And they were many.  Frances Blossom died on June 27th 1908.  Alonzo died less than four years later, on the 10th of February, 1912 at the age of 91 years.  They were buried in Dubuque. 

William Miller, having defaulted on his mortgage, was forced to offer his new brick brewery for sale.  The transaction was conducted by city attorney Levi Blossom, Jr., who went on to purchase the property for a bargain.